Oh hi.

Apparently I've forgotten about the existence of this blog. I can't believe it's been nearly six months since Ken's birthday and nearly five since we moved to our new neighborhood. Really? Where does time go? 

There are many updates I should have been posting during these six months, but the mere thought of catching this blog up to speed is positively daunting. So, just to get myself going again, I thought I would start with a little warm-up post. And what better way to start than with Bubba's 2nd birthday? (November 20th.) 

I think it's beyond safe to say that Bubba hates his birthday more than any other day of the year. Not only do we make him wear stupid things (which he hates more than he hates being bathed)...

...but we also set a plate full of delicious birthday treats in front of him, light a fire on top of them, and make him stare at them -- with a strict no-touching-no-licking-no-tasting rule -- for however long it takes to snap a decent birthday picture.

It's nothing shy of torture.

But, thankfully, Bubba is quick to forgive (even if we don't totally deserve it).

Happy 2nd Birthday, Bubba!

My Favorite Kind of Sunday

The Twitterverse is all atwitter {insert slow clap} about the Super Bowl and Madonna's upcoming halftime show, but I will be missing every last bit of it. Why? Because Ken and I recently rearranged our living room and now the television is located in a spot where its chord can no longer reach the cable-plug. It's an admittedly stupid arrangement, but getting it there was a lot of work and, you know, we're kinda-sorta lazy. 

But! All is not lost on this lovely Sunday. It's been a pretty darn good day so far and I'm positive its goodness will carry-on into the evening, while everyone else is watching the Super Bowl and rooting for...er... who's playing again? (Pathetically, I'm not even joking.) 

Here is a rundown of our little Sunday so far:

Brunch at Sadie's Diner...

(Their buckwheat pancakes are amazing!)

A leisurely stroll to the pet store to stock-up on Bubba-supplies...

(See him licking his chops in anticipation? He's a pig disguised as an unfriendly dog.)

 ...followed by a not-so-leisurely stroll to the dog park...

 (A year of consistent obedience training and he still tries to hang himself on the leash when he gets excited.)

Falling asleep in front of the window after "boofing" at all the people passing by, nine stories below us...

(I should note that Ken had nothing to do with the "boofing".) 

And now Ken is making his specialty-dinner (spaghetti, sans sausage this time... thank God) and I'm pretty sure we're going to enjoy eating it in front of a blank television screen. (The imagination does wonders.)

Who needs the Super Bowl on Sundays like these? Not me, I tell you. 

(Although I may try to stream the halftime show....)

Stomachaches and Anniversaries

The weekend has been crap, I'm not going to lie. Largely due to the most violent stomach bug I've had in ages that started on Thursday and has lasted until this very moment. (It's thankfully starting to settle down a bit and I'm finally able to digest food again--glory!)

Not pictured: Me, sitting on the toilet while my head hangs over the side of the bathtub. (You're welcome.)

On a much brighter note, today marks the one-year-anniversary of the most impulsive purchase Ken and I ever made together:

Bubba! 

We have days when we kind of regret making him apart of our little family...

(this day last week is a prime example)

...but most of the time we love him a whole lot and can't imagine our days without him.

Happy One-Year-Anniversary, Bubs! (Hopefully you'll start easing up on our toilet paper supply as time goes on.)

It's Nerdy...

...but I really like it when these two (unintentionally) match.

Up Went The Tree

We put up the Christmas tree really early this year. As in, beginning-of-November kind of early. This is Bubba's first Christmas with us, so we were curious how he would respond to having a big tree in the middle of the living room (and we couldn't wait to find out). 

Since Bubba loathes change of any kind (e.g. he refused to go anywhere near the bathroom for days after we put up a new shower curtain, unless it was to bark incessantly at it), we were worried it would be a little traumatic for him. We were especially worried, however, that he might try to christen the tree with a lift of the ol' leg (he tried to pee on a plant in Ken's mom's house a few months ago, so we figured a full-on tree indoors might be tempting fate). 

The outcome? Bubba didn't give two hoots about the tree. And I would be lying if I said I wasn't a teensy bit disappointed in the lack of Bubba-dramatics. 

He did, however, prove to be a bit of a thief during the whole decorating-of-the-tree. 

And, as it turns out, garland can keep a dog entertained for hours. (I'm thinking of keeping it as a year-round fixture.)

Who knew, right?

Every once in a while Bubba will march past the tree and take a swipe at it with his paw, or just try to steel a hunk of garland from it with his teeth, nearly tipping the whole tree over (this has happened twice). Otherwise, he's proving to be a very well-behaved Christmas puppy. (With the tree. Wrapping paper, on the other hand, is another story for another time.)
Oh! And one more thing:

Merry Christmas from (a very disgruntled) Bubba!

Bubba's 1st Birthday

Bubba's first birthday was this last Sunday (November 20th), and since we take birthdays pretty seriously around here (human birthdays or otherwise), we made sure to celebrate his little day properly.

 (He was none the wiser.)

I leashed-up Bubba and walked him to the pet store that morning to pick up some doggy-safe birthday treats and maybe a little birthday present. (The birthday present part didn't happen, however, as Bubs got a little nervous while in the store and piddled on the floor, forcing us to make a hasty and embarrassed exit.)

And, of course, a birthday cake for the humans was involved in the birthday celebrations, too (not from the pet store).

As you can see, getting Bubba to hold still for a birthday picture was darn near impossible. When he wasn't wiggling around and trying to escape, he was shutting his eyes just in time for the flash.  I finally gave up and handed him over to Ken...

...when Bubba decided he wasn't having any of this picture business and had a full-blown squirming fit, nearly singeing his paws in the process.

The almost-catching-himself-on-fire part is what finally caught his attention...

...and he was transfixed long enough for a proper picture to be taken.

Happy Birthday, Bubba! (Here's to better picture opportunities next year.)

We try to ignore him....

 ...but he just... 

stares.

Bubba At Bath Time

This is what Bubba looks like if you say "Bubba, do you want a bath?": 

And this is where Bubba hides if you say "Come on, Bubs, into the tub!":

{Pictures of bath-time do not exist. The chaos that ensues upon throwing Bubba into the tub makes the bathroom a hostile environment for a camera.} 

And this is what Bubba looks like after his bath (also after tearing out of the bathroom like a bat out of hell):

Nothing but murder in his eyes. 

{This is a biweekly ritual.}

Summer Randomness

I noticed the other day as I was uploading our Muskoka pictures into iPhoto that I have loads of unpublished, uneventful pictures I've taken over the summer. Since I don't have a Facebook account on which to dump all of them, I figured, hey, why not throw them up on the ol' blog? The internet is all about shameless self-indulgence anyway, right? Of course.

So, here it is: A load of picture-vomit from my summer, along with commentary. (Let the randomness from my camera begin....)

One.

One of the greatest things about owning a dog in this city is the excuse it gives you to hang out in the dog park. I realize that statement makes me sound like a creepy dog-stalker, but I'm not talking about just any old dog park here. I'm talking about the Lakeshore dog park. We've racked up countless hours there this summer. This lovely little park is a perfect place in the city to find some peace and quiet (if you don't count the dogs howling), to bring a book along, to get some sun, and to let Bubba go wild. (He does.) We even had a front row seat to see the Canada Day fireworks over Lake Ontario, thanks to this park. (A lot of people didn't think to bring their dogs along for the show, so we pretty much had the whole place to ourselves and Bubba was our ticket. Happy Canada Day, indeed.)

Two.

Playing Scrabble is fun, but not as fun as it is when you're sitting on the cute little patio of your favorite little cafe (Tequila Bookworm, which I once mentioned in a previous post). It's a great way to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon... which is pretty much every Sunday afternoon around here.

Three.

Avocados are not cheap, right? So you can imagine my disgust when I cut into one about a month ago only to discover an avocado pit the size of a baseball lodged inside of it. (In case you aren't all too familiar with avocado pits, the second picture shows you what an avocado pit should look like. Uhhh, yeah.) I actually contemplated taking it back to the market simply to say, "Are you kidding me?" but decided against it, as such an action would make me one of "those customers" who everyone loves to hate. So I sadly made do with the tablespoon of avocado I managed to scrape out of the pathetic thing and had a very small batch of guacamole to show for it.

Four.

We've spent a few too many lunches this summer eating at The One That Got Away, a super yummy fish and chips place that opened up way too close to our condo building a few months ago. (I'm partially blaming this place for the 8 pounds I've gained in the past year.... I hate you, you stupid, delicious place.)

Five.

Random pictures we apparently took right after our outing to the fish and chips place. Yeah, no reason.

Six.

I discovered heirloom tomatoes this summer and I've decided they are simply the best. I mean, really, can you tell me this isn't the most beautiful tomato you've ever seen? Plus, these babies taste far better than the hybrid tomatoes we usually find in stores. Maybe it's all in my head, but whatever makes the old taste buds (and extra pounds) happy.

Seven.

These are just a couple of random Muskoka leftovers. (No, I didn't eat the berries, but I wish I had.)

Eight.

Bubba has been intent upon ruining any picture we try to take with him lately. These are some lovely examples.  

Yes, I'm really starting to believe it's intentional. 

And since we're on the topic of Bubba, do you remember this sad, sad day? I just found it in my photo album and it made me laugh a little bit (which no doubt makes me an evil person). 

When Life Gives You Lemons...

... bark at them. Incessantly.

(The viciousness really starts at about the 1:01 mark.)

Aaaaaand I'm pretty sure our neighbors hate us now. A lot.

[Forgive the terrible quality of the video.]

Bubba is no longer a man...

...but an "it" who still pees with his leg up.

We went to pick up Bubba from the animal hospital yesterday only a few hours after his "procedure" was complete and, let me tell you, it was traumatic. The poor little guy not only had his "manly parts" removed, but he also had to have two baby canines taken out (which were stubbornly refusing to come out and starting to cause problems) and a micro-chip inserted into his back. To top off the whole package, he now has to wear a cone on his head. This, my friends, is the worst part by far.

When we left the animal hospital and started our five-minute walk home, we realized the anesthesia hadn't fully worn off yet; Poor Bubs was staggering around like a drunk puppy, scraping his little cone head on the sidewalk as he stumbled along. He eventually stopped walking, looked up at the two of us with the most miserable face I've ever seen in my life and started to cry with the most pathetic sounding whimpers. I assumed he must have been crying in pain, so I ended up carrying the poor little guy the rest of the way home. (He cried the entire way.)

Now I'm pretty sure he was crying because he hates the cone.

And, oh, how he hates it. 

We're only on day two of seven with the evil Mr. Cone and Bubba hasn't stopped trying to devise ways to get it off (nor has he stopped crying about it). Of course, I would probably hate the cone, too, if I had to wear it. It's made him crash into pretty much anything and everything (walls, floors, doors, legs, whatever), he's unable to eat properly out of his food dish, his toys keep evading him, and worst of all?  All of the park dogs are either scared of him or they tease him whenever he (and his monstrosity of a head) goes outside to do his business. So, Bubba is now officially friendless.

It's going to be a long week before those pesky stitches come out.

Oohhh February...

2011 thus far has been filled with lots of snowy, freezing-your-face-off kinds of days and I'd be lying if I said I didn't have a hardcore case of February Blues at the moment. (February is my most dreaded month of the year because I'm so, so over winter by this point.... If I see one more snowflake I might throw up in disgust.)

In order to keep our spirits up during this time of brutal weather, Ken and I resolved to bundle up and venture out to visit a new restaurant and/or coffee shop at least once a week, just to give us something to look forward to every now and then and to help us enjoy life in Toronto (in spite of it being an icier version of hell on earth). We've found a number of gems during our new weekly assignment, and most of them are a stone's throw away from our living room window (which is dangerous for our wallets during those lazy, I-don't-feel-like-cooking days... which are frequent). Here are a few of our recent discoveries:

Korean Food. Wha--?

It's been almost a year since we left Korea and I hadn't the slightest craving for anything even remotely Korean... until a few weeks ago.

Thankfully, we only had to walk a few blocks to Korea Town where we were met with Kimbop-Chungoos galore to satisfy such random cravings. (Although the mounds of snow piled on the sidewalk made the walk long and treacherous and perhaps not totally worth it.)

It was a yummy dinner that made my little heart miss Korea a teensy bit. I was also pleasantly reminded that Korean makes for really great winter food (the red pepper paste is particularly... warming, if nothing else). Would you believe we actually devoured four bowls of kimchi? I never thought I'd live to see the day.... Suffice it to say, we've now had our Korean-food-fill for the next year.

Burgers.  Not just any burgers, mind you. Craft Burgers. 

Organic, fancy-shmancy deliciousness. (I tried my burger with avocado, gorgonzola cheese, and rosemary-garlic mayonnaise... aaaand my mouth is watering at the very memory.) 

This place is amazing and I'm pretty sure it's the best burger I've ever had. What's even more amazing? It's literally a two-minute walk from our apartment. (Dangerously convenient.)

Coffee. I'd been moaning and groaning about the lack of good coffee shops in our area for the past nine months of living here only to discover there's a great place five minutes up the street (and I won't be winning any awards for my observation skills).  

Tiny, artsy and maybe the best macchiato I've ever had. They also have a stack of magazines and board games available for their patrons, which I thought was a nice little touch. (I'm going to make this place my Saturday morning ritual.) 

We've been to a few more mentionable places over the past couple of weeks but we forgot to haul our camera along for those excursions, and because a picture is worth a thousand words (and because we now have a camera worth using) I'll provide more on the subject another time. 

As for the rest of our free time during these awful winter months: It's been spent watching lots of movies and episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (me, not Ken), wasting time on the computer, and playing lots of card games and board games.

 Some a little more thought-provoking than others....

As you can see, I'm running low on subject matter, so I shall also re-mention this little guy who is now occupying the rest of our free time:

We are in serious danger of becoming weird dog people, but it can't be helped. (To prove my point, here's a little Flickr album I created just for Bubba.)

He's had a number of naughty-as-heck moments this week, but he's really sweet most of the time.

Of course, it helps that he's really cute. (If he were ugly, he would have been thrown out the window days ago.)

That's all I've got, people. It's been a slow winter, but things are good... and boy am I ever looking forward to spring.